Divine interiors : experience churches in the age of Rubens

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During the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church witnessed some of the greatest upheavals in its history. When the Iconoclastic Fury took Antwerp by storm, statues of God and the patron saints were strictly banned. Artists turned their attention to a new genre that had emerged in Germany : the church portrait.

In the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, churches were not just used for worship : they were places where people celebrated, grieved, paraded and begged. These activities are all reflected in the paintings of churches that were produced in great quantities in Antwerp during the period. Such church interiors are masterpieces of perspective, which present fascinating scenes of existing or lost churches replete with imposing indoor vistas.

Museum Mayer van den Bergh is bringing together a number of these church interiors for the first time. This beautifully illustrated catalogue introduces the reader to the splendid genre of architectural painting and to locations that were the places to meet 400 years ago.